Looking for a lover to court and spark

Had a long weekend, but it wasn't as relaxing as I would have preferred. Sunday, the blizzard that, according to the local meteorologists, was going to rip our souls limb from limb, asserted itself mid afternoon. I was dressed down, fooling around on the new computer with Pooch Edward Bottoms by my side. I looked out the window - it was becoming nasty outside. I took comfort in the knowledge that I was in for the day. The feeling didn't last long.

I received back to back texts from Spira and Mara alerting me to the city's parking ban, which stated that all vehicles needed to be parked on the side of the street that had odd numbered houses. After a burst of panic, I realized my car was positioned in a safe place and I had nothing to worry about. But then I remembered that Aviv and Janelle, living it up in Israel, had left their cars behind. If I didn't move them, they were going to be ticketed and then towed. There was nothing for it but to get dressed and move their cars.

Not an easy task. First of all, it was late afternoon by this point and everyone had moved their cars already. Finding spots for two cars was not going to be a cake walk. And then I discovered that their cars were standards. I hadn't driven stick since my early twenties; what better time to get a refresher course than in the middle of a blizzard, driving around city streets searching for parking.

I cleaned off Aviv's car and searched for parking while I stalled out a couple of times and got beeped at by panicky motorists also ostensibly looking for spots. Spira had told me I could park at the school by my house, but the gates were closed. I finally found a spot about a half mile away. I quickly parked and jogged back to the house. Time was of the essence. They were about to start ticketing and the roads, already slick, were rapidly becoming worse.

I cleaned off Janelle's car and drove around for the second time. I wasn't thrilled at the position I was in, but there was nothing else I could do. I finally found a spot after driving around for what seemed like forever. I walked back to the house with a feeling of relief that was outweighed by the stress of what I had just gone through.

Monday. In the morning, I took Pooch Edward for a walk to the cars to see how they fared. Each was buried, like every other car, by the force of the blizzard. During the walk, I lost a new pair of gloves that my boss had gotten me. You win some and you lose some. For example, I was given a nice Christmas present by the city on Christmas Eve: a shiny new $100.00 parking ticket for parking near a fire hydrant that everyone parks by. In keeping with the holidays (I got a parking ticket on Thanksgiving, too ), I'm hoping to round out the trilogy and get a whopping ticket on New Years Eve. Here's hoping. Anyway, I digress.

Later in the day on Monday, I shoveled out my car and cleaned it off. Then I took a walk with shovel and snow brush and did the same to Janelle's and Aviv's cars. I had the foresight earlier, while I was cleaning my car, to back it up a bit so that it occupied two spaces. My plan was to move Aviv's car behind mine after I moved it back into its spot. See, he doesn't have a permit, so his car needs to be moved every forty eight hours or he'll get a ticket. So, I moved his car behind mine, but I'll have to move it again. I think it's fair to say they owe me big for all this.

When I finished with the parking, I went inside and prepared my dinner. I put Pooch Edward out in the yard. When I went to retrieve him, he was standing in the driveway, pissing on Janelle's junk car. Hmm... must have left the gate open, I thought.

Same scenario tonight. I'm making dinner, Z's out in the yard. All of a sudden I hear him barking, which is something he loves to do when he's out in the yard. Hate to say it, but he becomes a bit of a prick, terrorizing passers by. Anyway, I hear him barking and when I look out the window, I see that he's barking at a girl walking by and he's eye level with her. It took me a minute to realize that he was standing on a snow bank that reached the height of the fence. Needless to say, he scared the shit out of this poor girl. He looked ready to pounce on her before I banged on the window and got his attention. I went out in the yard and got him. So that's how he got out yesterday. Not his fault and kind of funny. Guess I have some more shoveling ahead of me.
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My neighbor, Steve, who is deeply obsessed with snow removal, was in his element throughout the course of the storm and it's aftermath. By my count, he was outside either shoveling or using the snow blower almost the entire night Sunday and all day yesterday. I am not exaggerating. All fricken' day! Not my idea of a fun time, but to each his own.

And with that, I'm done with this post. It's the end of the year and you know what that means: my annual year end awards. I was going to start the proceedings here, but it'll have to wait to my next post. Now you have something to look forward to.